


The Truth

by N0e11e_Se4s



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AdrienDefenseSquad, F/M, SADrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:42:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23344168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N0e11e_Se4s/pseuds/N0e11e_Se4s
Summary: An student at Francois-DuPont gets akumatized after his sister falls in love with his arch nemesis. His power is to expose the truth from whoever he touches with his light beams. But his rampage starts a domino affect that slowly ruins Adrien’s life.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 18
Kudos: 98





	The Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another slow burn :)
> 
> Some things to keep in mind that I never really mentioned in this fic for writing purposes: 
> 
> I headcannon that everyone in Marinette and Adrien’s class grows to be a large group of friends as time goes by. So everyone is cool with each other, including Chloe and Sabrina (not so much Lila but who cares lmao).
> 
> Everyone is aged up to 16-17 bc I’m uncomfortable finding out Marinette was like 12 ;-;
> 
> The teacher isn’t in the classroom for this scene.
> 
> Okay lit. Enjoy!

“I have a Pokémon card collection!” 

Everyone seized their panic to do a double take at Kim. 

“You what?” Rose asks.

“I... have a Pokémon card collection...,” he grumbled. Just as Nathaniel began to laugh, the akuma lit up with anger. 

“Does no one else in this dumb school have any good secrets!?” The akuma easily located their target from the get-go and exposed their secret in front his sister just like he intended to. Now that the akuma has accomplished its mission, all that’s left is to get hawkmoth the miraculous. Yet for some reason Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t swooping in to save this dumb class of nobodies. The whole “luring the heroes” thing seems to be failing horribly here. 

“I don’t know, dude, we’re all pretty basic...,” Nino muttered. 

“Hmmmm, what about her?” He zapped Chloe and Marinette began to truly panic. If she’s struck by his power, she’s sure to have her secret identity exposed. She kept thinking of ways to escape without being noticed. 

Unlike Kim’s resisted outburst, Chloe nonchalantly says, “I slept in my makeup once. It still irks me.” She shivers. 

“Oh C’mon!”

“What!?” Chloe defends herself. “ I share everything with my fans anyway!” 

The word fans seemed to tick in the akuma’s mind as he locked into a new target. He spoke with a sinister tone and evil grin “Oh? Speaking of fans... I wonder what Adrien Agreste’s fans don’t know about him?”

Seeing Adrien visibly panic as he was struck with the akuma’s power was super unsettling to everyone in the class. Marinette felt anxiety twist her stomach; fear for whatever he wanted to keep a secret and guilt for being curious as what he could say.

Adrien worsened his classmates’ reactions by fighting back so hard. He covered his mouth with both hands and shut his eyes tight. His face was red as a tomato and he was shivering, making little grunts of protest.

He was making a scene... 

Marinette had the chance to finally slip away unnoticed. She booked it for the nearest hiding spot and transformed into Ladybug. 

She wanted to save him, but by the time she returned, Adrien was knelt in defeat. She was too late and everyone was visibly shocked by whatever he said. Hot tears streamed down his face and the akuma was about to speak before Ladybug announced her presence.

As she distracted the akuma while getting everyone to safety, she couldn’t help but worry about Adrien.

Chat Noir never showed up.

******

Adrien was absent the next day. Marinette can’t remember a single day that Adrien didn’t come to school before this. He even comes when he’s sick (with a face mask) to get away from home. The fact that Adrien chose to hide today instead of taking the chance to escape broke Marinette’s heart. Was it really so bad that he couldn’t show his face?

Throughout the day, she tried endlessly to find out what he said. 

“C’mon! How is it fair that all of you know and I don’t!?” 

Everyone shifted and squirmed; whatever Adrien’s secret was, it must’ve been bad. 

“Girl, he didn’t even wanna tell us in the first place,” Alya said. “Plus you said you left the first moment you got the chance, right? It was your choice to leave...” 

“Okay, but all of you guys know! So how bad could it be if I also had this information!?!?” Marinette was borderline screaming at them. 

“Honestly, I’m pretty sure he’d be glad if you didn’t know.” 

“Kim!” Alix snapped. 

“What!?” 

“You’re not helping!” 

“What do you mean? He didn’t want any of us to know so I’m pretty sure he’d be glad to know that someone didn’t hear him!” 

Marinette was dumbfounded. She couldn’t just ask him, and they weren’t giving it up. Why?

“W-was it ab-bout me?” She whimpered. 

Everyone jumped to disregard what she said all at once. Marinette fought back tears as her frustration caught up to her.

“Guys... I’m just worried about him. I care... s-so m-much... and I-,” her sob cut her off, and before anyone else could speak, she left. 

********

It’s been two weeks and she’s heard nothing from Adrien. She was losing her mind. It was at this moment that she decided she really had to check up on him. It wasn’t even about finding out his secret anymore; she was genuinely concerned for his wellbeing. 

She transformed into Ladybug and traveled to his home. All of his lights were off despite it being nighttime. She knew this meant she had to be careful not to get spotted; with this type of light Adrien would see her before she could see him, which could be disastrous. 

She peeped into a corner of his window. When she saw him curled up under his blankets, she felt a little gross for the way she was acting. She decided to change her approach. 

Now hanging upside down from her yo-yo, Spider-Man style, she knocked softly on his window. Even though she intended to be gentle, he jumped at the sound. Adrien sat up in a panic, looked around, and saw her there. She waved sweetly but he only dropped his jaw in horror. 

******

A few minutes later, Adrien opened the window for Ladybug. She slowly let herself inside, still feeling bad about invading his privacy. 

“I’m so sorry that you had to see me like that...,” Adrien scratched the back of his neck shyly. 

She chuckled a little, “it’s okay!” Adrien truly doesn’t know how adorable he is at all times. His hair was an absolute mess and his face was red and flushed. He was wearing an oversized black hoodie and grey sweatpants. He probably thought he looked like a slob, but Ladybug saw nothing but the love of her life. Still, she appreciates his effort to look good in front of her. His hair was now perfectly tame, and his makeup looked fresh and dewy. He also changed into a black T-shirt, that was still a little oversized, and blue jeans. 

“D-did you need anything?” He asked, his voice was high pitched and he seemed to be on edge. Of what she had no clue, but he was on it. 

“No, no!” She said quickly. “I-I just wanted to... um... y-your classmates asked me t-to check on you, haHA...” 

She cursed herself for still not being able to lie to him with a straight face, and panicked when she saw his expression change into something she couldn’t define. 

“You seemed pretty affected by the whole secret thing with the akuma, s-so I just... th-they were hoping you were okay...?” She looked up at him nervously through her eyelashes, but gasped when she saw his face.

He looked like he was in agonizing pain, the same way he did two weeks ago.

“A-Adrien! W-wait, I’m so sorry!!”

He finally burst into tears. His knees buckled beneath him and he fell to his knees. Ladybug acted on instinct and guided him down, but noticed how he revolted at her touch, so the moment he hit the ground, she let go. 

All of a sudden, she saw past her attraction. She stopped studying his appearance and finally saw what he felt. Broken. Lost. Hurt. Fragile. Her Adrien. 

“Now you know,” he said under his breath. He was crying but there was a tone of aggression in his voice. 

“Adrien, it’s okay!” 

“No! Now you know the truth!” He screamed. “I saw you there, I know you heard!!” 

Marinette froze for a second before realizing that Adrien must think Ladybug heard his secret because she was standing there after he finished talking. He’s like this because he thinks she knows. Oh shit.

“A-Adrie-,”

“Now you know what I really am! Now you know I-I’m... a freak!” He doubled over even more, sobbing hard as ever. And his voice dropped down to a whisper. “How can you even look me in the eyes...knowing that I...?”

He looked up at her again, but when their eyes met, it was painful. And she wanted to tear away her gaze but she couldn’t. Why did he look so different just now...? 

“I-I’m so sorry...,” he lowered his head again to cry as he lost his voice. 

Ladybug thought of so many things. Whatever Adrien’s secret was, it was enough to make him think that everyone hates him now. That can’t be true. No matter what Ladybug knows what a good person Adrien is, she doesn’t care at all. He could be working for Hawkmoth and she would still hold him in her arms. No matter what it seems like on the surface, he’s a good person. She knows that, even if he did something bad. She could save him.

“A-Adrien, shut up,” Ladybug said, lifting up his face by his chin. She caressed his cheek, catching his tears while watching him closely. He wouldn’t fully look up at her. 

“Listen to me, Adrien,” emerald meets sapphire, “you are not a freak. Everything is okay. I could never see you differently, I know you’re a good person no matter what. That’s what matters. And you have wonderful friends who love you. They don’t care either, they just want you to be okay. So do I. We could never stop loving you Adrien, we adore you!” 

She finished with a smile and a giggle to lighten the mood, but she really just began to panic because she said she loved him in costume. Fml fml fml.

“Our past is our past after all, we should never be ashamed from it. We grow from it!” She really hoped that what she was saying made sense. And apparently she did something right because now Adrien was hugging her tightly, whispering sweet apologies and “thanks you”s. Ladybug smiled as she hugged him back. 

****

Adrien showed up to school the next day. Marinette couldn’t contain herself. 

“Adrien!!” She beamed as she ran towards him. A huge smile on her face as she dropped her bookbag and notebooks to jump into his embrace. She threw herself onto him, happy to hear him laugh and tell her good morning. 

As time passed by, Marinette and Adrien actually became pretty close, so this was honestly expected. 

“I missed you so much!” She said, letting him go. “Were you sick or something? 

He froze, “W-what? No, I... I just...”

He studied her face, she was truly curious as to why he left. 

“I just couldn’t show my face, Marinette. Ist was hard on me... to... y’know...” 

She shook her head no, she doesn’t know. 

“A-After the akuma...?”

Another head shake.

“My secret...”

A light seemed to go off in her head, she gasped, “Oh! Wait, it zapped you right? I escaped as that happened I think. Rotf, I have such great timing huh?” 

Adrien looked down at her with a face she couldn’t decipher. So she just kept talking.

“Wait, that’s why you were out? I hope it wasn’t that embarrassing! I can’t imagine what I could say about myself to make me want to hide for two weeks. That must’ve been hard on you, but don’t worry! I got your back!” She smiled at him sweetly, “We should probably get to class now though.”

Marinette turned to walk away, proud that she made it clear to Adrien that she didn’t know what his secret was. And she didn’t need to know either. She meant what she said as Ladybug and now she’s going to prove it to him. She’ll always love him.

**Author's Note:**

> Try and guess what it is ;)
> 
> Feel free to leave feedback and give suggestions about how I should write characters/ any tips you have. I WILL LISTEN.


End file.
